1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charge pump circuit including P-channel MOS transistors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a charge pump circuit is constructed by first and second charging elements for charging a step-up capacitor and first and second discharging switching elements for discharging the step-up capacitor. In this case, each of the first charging switching element and the second discharging switching element is formed by a P-channel MOS transistor. Also, the second charging switching element is formed by an N-channel MOS transistor and the first discharging switching element is formed by a P-channel MOS transistor.
In the above-described prior art charge pump circuit, each of the P-channel MOS transistors of the first charging element and the second discharging switching element is inherently associated with a parasitic PNP-type transistor. As a result, when such P-channel MOS transistors are turned ON, the corresponding parasitic PNP-type transistors are also turned ON, so that invalid currents flow therethrough.
In a prior art charge pump circuit (see: JP-A-2002-191168), in order to suppress the above-mentioned invalid currents, resistors are connected to the back gates of the P-channel MOS transistors. This will be explained later in detail.
In the above-described charge pump circuit, however, since the invalid currents are not completely cut off, the efficiency of the charge pump circuit is still low.